Art and Soul

Meh.

Cheesehead, my dad and I all went to Art and Soul last night. Art Smith, best known for formerly being Oprah's personal chef, opened this southern restaurant last fall in the new Luminant Hotel on Capitol Hill, though the day-to-day chef was brought in from DC's Ten Penh.

The beer selection here started out the meal well - I had an Eggenberg Pilsner, which was probably the most recognizable of the selections on tap. It also look like they had a varied wine list and a fair number of house cocktails. And the skillet bread they bring out before the meal was a cross between a biscuit and a croissant while still warm.

We started with the Chesapeake Bay Fry, which was oysters, shrimp, calamari and hush puppies fried with old bay seasoning. The hush puppies were a bit dry, but all in all it was decent. We also shared one of the hoe cakes. This was an interesting concept, but seemed to work - it was several cornmeal pancakes topped with a salad of arugula, grapes, walnuts, and a vinaigrette dressing.

For my main course I had the salmon with fresh pickles, roasted potatoes, and a lemon tartare sauce. I normally don't order salmon at restaurants, mainly because it is so frequently overcooked, but I was relieved when the waitress said it was cooked to medium; figuring if they offered varied temps, they must do it right. Nope. The salmon was overcooked and dry. Now, I realize that chefs frequently take Monday as a night off so I'm tempted to give a pass on minor execution details, but the overcooked salmon I had last night cost just as much as a properly cooked fish on a weekend.

Cheesehead had a squash ravioli which was fine if unremarkable, and dad had the rockfish wrapped in Virginia ham and served over risotto, which seemed to be the best dish of the night.

So, ok, service was fine if a little slow, the ambience was pleasant, the food was passable for the most part but not great. Then the bill came. 3 people who shared two appetizers, each got an entree, no dessert, no sides, and a total of 4 beers came to $150 with tip. Seemed about 25% too high for the quality of the food, especially considering we did it pretty cheaply.

If I were on Capitol Hill and needed a place to eat, would I go to Art and Soul? Probably. But I'm not sure that says more about the restaurant or the lack of good choices in the area. I'd be awfully tempted to go to Bistro Bis or Johnny's Half Shell first, though.